Tag: Sir Graves Ghastly

He Scared My Pants Off!

In a recent blog, I mentioned local horror host Sir Graves Ghastly. While I liked watching his show, there was another host who I connected with on a more “childish” level – Count Scary.

The Count (and his cool twin brother, Val Scary) was portrayed by Tom Ryan. Tom was a radio guy who worked at the Big 8 (CKLW) and at WOMC in Detroit. I listened to Tom on the radio growing up.

Count Scary hosted a few B-movies on WDIV, one of which (maybe the first) was in 3-D. You could pick up 3-D glasses for watching at the local Wendy’s restaurant if I remember correctly.

I remember our family went camping one weekend and the Count was hosting a movie. I made sure that we brought a TV and while my family was out at the bonfire, I was in the tent watching Count Scary.

His specials would feature music from local artists like the Bus Boys, Bob Seger, and Nolan Strong. There were always clips of him doing things locally and mingling with local celebrities. I remember a clip of him with Detroit Tiger manager Sparky Anderson. In the clip, the Count get’s bonked on the head by a baseball.

He always seemed to be fighting with the people producing his special. His “fine boys” he’d call them. The one thing I loved was this little “stinger” sound effect that would play whenever he’d say something. He’d say “This movie will scare your pants off!” followed by the spooky stinger.

The movies he showed were usually far from scary. However, one time he showed Dracula starring Jack Palance. During the showing of this movie, they cut to Count Scary after a scary scene and he has lost his pants. To me, this always makes me laugh. Listen for the stinger in the clip. Man, I wish I had that clip when I was on the radio – I loved that thing!

I want to say I was about 12 when Count Scary first started hosting movies on TV. When he was still at CKLW, he put out a 45 record for Christmas. Naturally, right from the get-go, the “fine boys” louse it up.

The flip side featured Tom Ryan as Val Scary. I don’t have the physical 45 anymore, but it’s good to know I can still listen to this silly thing on YouTube.

It’s been over 20 years since the Count has been on TV. I think his last appearance was in 1996. All these years later, there are still times I will say, “Ooooo, that’s scary!” and hear that stinger in my head!

Ghosts of Halloween Past

A few years back, I wrote a blog about those terrible Halloween costumes we used to wear as kids. You know, the one with the plastic masks with the holes in them? The masks with that cheap rubber band that always broke? Remember those? Here is a link to that blog as a refresher for you:

Halloween Dress Up

There was a Trunk or Treat close to our house recently and I could see all the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes. I tried to remember what I had dressed up as for Halloween as a kid and I really cannot remember. So I pulled out a hard drive which contains a bunch of photo scans from my dad. I figured if my folks had taken any pictures of us in costumes, they’d be on that drive.

What I found was that there were next to none on this drive. There were a couple, which I will share, but nothing from when we were really young. I guess my parents must have thought those costumes with the cheap masks and slits for eyes were not photo worthy. The only ones they took pictures of were when we did something out of the ordinary.

One year my brother and I wanted to be vampires or something. So my dad bought the make up and such and the result was … less than steller.

We don’t even have capes! I dunno, this get up stumps me. My dad tried to make me look like Sir Graves Ghastly, who was a local horror movie host on TV. I think that he did a good job, but without the rest of the vampire ensemble, people had to wonder who they heck we were!

Sir Graves Ghastly. We met him once at a mall appearance. He was very cool and everyone asked him to do his “laugh.”

Another year I went out as Oliver Hardy of Laurel and Hardy.

I’m sure this also made no sense to people answering the door because my brother dressed up as a woman. Perhaps Mr. Hardy had a date? I suppose I could have been mistaken for Charlie Chaplin, but my body shape was more Hardy than Chaplin!

The only other Halloween picture I have is from my Sophomore year of high school. The band had a Halloween party at some barn as I recall and we all went to it. I didn’t know what to go as, and decided on going as a clown. I threw on a pair of pajama pants over my jeans, one of my dad’s old shirts, an awful sport coat, clown wig, hat and tie, and added a huge horn. It was ridiculous!

This is just a guess, but that year at the annual Band Banquet, I won the Mock Elections for “Band Clown.” I am sure that this outfit played a part in that win. It was cool to win that award every year I was in band.

While this wasn’t necessarily Halloween, one of the other photos of my “in costume” that came up was one that I used when I worked at 94.5 The Moose. I used to take song lyrics and read them behind some classical music and called it a “Dramatic Reading.” It was a silly chance to “overact.”

The first reading I did was Gretchen Wilson’s Redneck Woman. Imagine classical music playing with me dramatically saying, “Victoria Secret. There’s stuff’s real nice. But I can buy the same damn thing on a Walmart shelf – half price!” It was utter stupidity. To promote it on the website, they took this picture:

HA! I’m such an idiot!

I suppose it is probably better that there are no pictures of me in those cheap costumes. I remember I was always overweight and the pants always seemed to rip before we were done Trick or Treating. And half the time, the thing that held the mask on broke after three or four blocks and wound up in the bottom of the Trick or Treat bag or pillowcase anyway.

As silly as these are, they are fun to look back at!